Archive for the ‘Vision’ Category

Do You Have the Conviction of Excellence?

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

I’ve noticed that the word “excel­lence” is sur­fac­ing more often in the guid­ing prin­ci­ples or con­vic­tions of companies.

A few years ago, I started work­ing with the lead­er­ship of a UK based petro­leum addi­tives firm. One of their pri­mary ini­tia­tives is “orga­ni­za­tional excel­lence.” Last week, I spent time with the lead­er­ship of a huge restau­rant chain whose first prin­ci­ple of suc­cess is “oper­a­tional excellence.”

Tomor­row I will be with a mort­gage bank­ing firm, and “man­u­fac­tur­ing qual­ity” is one of their guid­ing prin­ci­ples. Now, “man­u­fac­tur­ing qual­ity” does not have the word excel­lence in it, but as I read what it means to them the word excel­lence jumped right out.

As lead­ers, we must closely exam­ine this trend.

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Belong, Become, Build

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

The year 2010 is now six weeks under­way. I’ve observed that within many lead­ers, across many indus­tries, there still is a great deal of uncer­tainty about what the future holds.

When you feel unsure about next quar­ter, next week, or even tomor­row, fear can take over. It’s easy to lose sight of your larger plan when you feel like you’re scram­bling. I’ve found, time and time again, that the best rem­edy for fear and uncer­tainly is a healthy dose of vision.

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Bifocal Vision Required

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Bi-Focal Vision - Optometry MachineIn chal­leng­ing times, most lead­ers spend the major­ity of their time play­ing defense.  This means time spent review­ing cash flow, sales reports, and finan­cials so they can make the best reac­tive and tac­ti­cal deci­sions in order to sur­vive.  Cost cut­ting, expense con­trol, layoffs…..ugh! 

Deal­ing with these very real sce­nar­ios can really bring a leader down.  And the unfor­tu­nate thing is that, if he spends too much time each day focused on these activ­i­ties for too long, he and his team will begin to lose sight of why they do what they do.  They will lose sight of the mis­sion, they will no longer see oppor­tu­nity, and they will lose hope. 

Ulti­mately, if the leader has both eyes down on the data, the organization’s health and cul­ture will suffer.

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